


Practice, Practice, Practice

by mggislife2789



Category: Criminal Minds, Spencer Reid - Fandom
Genre: Gen, Ice Skating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-22
Updated: 2016-10-22
Packaged: 2018-08-23 21:27:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8343493
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mggislife2789/pseuds/mggislife2789
Summary: Spencer is apprehensive about telling his friends how good he is out on the ice.Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters or their original stories. This is only for fun. It's where my brain goes after the credits roll. No copyright intended. Better safe than sorry. ;)





	

“We have our first day off in forever in a couple of weeks! What are we gonna do?” Penelope shrieked.

Rossi looked her way and sighed, “What do we always do Garcia? We’ll go out to dinner.”

“We always go out to dinner,” JJ interjected, pulling her hair into a stylish ponytail, “Why don’t we do something different?”

“Like what?” Hotch questioned.

Everyone sat in silence for a few moments, contemplating what they could do that was different from the routine. Morgan was the first one to come up with anything. “We could go see the big Christmas light display in the middle of DC?”

Emily seemed to like the idea, but realized they wouldn’t be able to all go together. “That would be nice, but you go in cars, and we couldn’t fit everyone into one car, so we’d have to split up,” she noted, slumping back into her chair, attempting to think up something they could do.

Another few moments passed before Penelope gasped so loudly that everyone else jumped in their seats. “Oh my god! I have the perfect idea!”

“What is it?” Spencer asked after Penelope had hesitated.

“It’s the perfect time of year. It’s not too cold, but it’ll be the perfect atmosphere. We’re going to have so much fun.”

The rest of the team laughed at her unbridled enthusiasm, figuring that whatever her plan was they’d go along with it just because she seemed so happy about. “Have fun doing what, baby girl?” Morgan laughed.

“Ice skating!” she said eagerly.

A chorus of “That sounds awesome” and “That’s a great idea” rang throughout the room from everyone except Spencer. He had absolutely no desire to go ice skating, especially not in front of all his friends. He’d have to find a way to get out of it without them asking why.

\-------------------

The day that the team had planned to go ice skating was fast approaching and Spencer was running out of time, and excuses, to get out of it. Maybe he’d just fake being sick the night it came up. That was probably the only way he could get out of going without outright telling everyone that he didn’t want to go.

\-------------------

“I’m sorry, Garcia,” Spencer spoke into the phone, trying as hard as he could to sound sickly, “I just feel awful. I’m not going to be any fun tonight.”

He could practically hear her disappointment through the phone. “No! Spencer! You have to come! It’s the first time that we’re all off together in forever.”

He did feel bad. He really did. If it had been any other activity, he would have gone happily. “I know. I’m really sorry.”

“It’s an indoor rink. Can you at least come and sit on the outside of the rink? You can warm yourself up with some hot chocolate while the rest of us skate. That way you can at least be with us? It’ll feel so weird if you’re not there.” She asked hopefully.

“I don’t know,” he fretted, “I don’t want to get any sicker.” He was glad to be talking to Penelope, otherwise any other member of the team would have been able to hear the disingenuous tone in his voice. But then again, maybe he wasn’t so glad to be talking to Penelope. She always knew how to make him feel bad.

“Please, Spencer?” He couldn’t take the desperation in her voice. She was probably the sweetest person he’d ever known, and he did want to make her happy, so he agreed.

“Ok, but I’m not going out on the ice,” he said, realizing he’d have to keep up this sick charade while he was out. “I don’t want to get any sicker.”

“That’s fine,” she said excitedly, “At least we’ll all be able to go out together. See you in a few hours, Boy Wonder.”

\-------------------

They’d all met at the indoor rink with Spencer showing up last. He walked up to the group with a slump in his shoulder, a put-on glazed look in his eyes and a pocket full of tissues that he didn’t actually need. But he had to keep up this charade in order to get through the night without going out onto the ice, so he had to make it convincing.

“Are you sure you don’t want to rent a pair of skates, Reid? Hotch asked, raising an eyebrow at Spencer’s faked illness.

Great. Spencer thought. Hotch definitely knew he was lying. Thankfully, he wasn’t the kind of person to push it when it didn’t have to do with a case. “Yea, I’m sure,” Spencer articulated, “I’m just going to grab a cup of hot chocolate and sit on the sidelines. Have fun.”

Everyone made their way onto the ice as Spencer turned to grab some hot chocolate. JJ, Emily and Rossi slid out onto the ice without any trouble and Derek had no issues either, but he immediately had to catch Penelope, who had instantly fallen over. To everyone’s surprise, the other member of the team that couldn’t keep his footing was Hotch, who was flailing and trying not to laugh. He failed. He was always the most different outside of the office.

Spencer sat on the bench near the rink, slowly sipping on his hot cocoa while everyone had fun on the ice. He couldn’t help but laugh at Hotch’s ineptness on the ice. He’d like to be out there with them, but the thing was he’d been skating since he was a child and he was actually good at it. If he started skating, he’d probably get lost in it and he didn’t really want anyone to know that he liked it. He’d been made fun of relentlessly for it as a child and although he didn’t think his friends would make fun of him, he was still apprehensive about letting them know.

Apparently, he’d gotten lost in his own thoughts because JJ came over, interrupting him. “Hey Spence, you’re looking a little bit better, why don’t you come out for a while?”

Before he could say no, Emily, Derek, and Hotch skated up to the edge of the rink. “Yea, come on, Reid. You look fine. Come out for a bit,” Emily spoke.

“Yea, come on. Even Hotch is out here and apparently he sucks at it,” Derek teased.

Hotch glared in his general direction. He couldn’t deny it, but he’d make Derek pay for that comment later. “Just for a while, Reid. It would make Garcia happy if everyone was out here.”

Dammit, he thought. Using Penelope’s happiness against him was just unfair. “Ok,” he sighed, “just for a little bit.” He’d have to just glide and not do much else.

As he went to rent a pair of skates, Spencer wondered if it would be too much to throw himself down a flight of stairs and break a leg to get out of this. Penelope met him at the entrance to the rink and he linked her arm in hers, gliding across the ice and steadying his friend. She looked even happier now that everyone was together. 

“Reid, you’re even steadier on the ice than my burning hunk of chocolate thunder. How are you so good at this?” she asked.

He tried to think of an excuse fast. “It’s nothing,” he mused, “it’s all mathematical really.”

“Well, teach me, Boy Genius,” she cried, “I want to know how to steady myself.”

He sighed, figuring his secret would soon be out. “Well first, your legs are too straight. Bend at the knees. It’ll help with balance and also try just march in place in the skates at first. It teaches you how to straighten your ankles without straightening your legs.” She did as he instructed, smiling from ear to ear as she marched in place.

“I feel silly,” she laughed.

“You’ll get used to it,” he replied, focusing in on Penelope and forgetting that they were with anyone else. He watched as she began skating again, immediately looking at her feet. “And don’t do that,” he said.

“Do what?”

“Look at your feet,” he said, “Always look in the direction you’re skating and place your weight on your dominant foot, leaving your weaker foot at an angle to push off, like this.” Spencer demonstrated, gliding gracefully forward as Garcia stayed in place.

“As you practice more you’ll get to the point where you can glide forward on both feet,” he smiled, skating circles around her and coming to a firm stop, “and then you’ll be able to brake without falling.”

Penelope attempted to glide on both feet, falling forward into Spencer’s arms. “Reid, how can you make this look so easy?”  
“It just takes practice,” he affirmed. “You’ll be able to do it eventually as long as you practice enough.”

Spencer lifted her up, steadying her again before guiding them both around the edge of the rink. Grabbing hold of his arm, she asked, “So you’ve been skating before?”

He sighed. It was no use. “Yea, I’ve been skating since I was a kid. I just never told anybody because I was always made fun of for it.”  
“So can you do all the cool jumps and stuff?” she squealed excitedly. “Why would anyone make fun of you? This is fun.”

He made sure Penelope was steady against the edge of the rink and then shut out the rest of the world to glide across the ice at lightening speed. Without thinking, he let his years of training guide him into a series of axels, lutzes and salchows, before focusing on his friends again.

Mouths agape, his team members had stopped to stare in awe, as had the rest of the patrons on the ice.

“Oh, COME ON!” Hotch screamed. “How can you be good at everything?”

Everyone skated towards him, bombarding him with questions about how long he’d been skating and where he’d learned what he learned. “Seriously,” Morgan noted, “Who could’ve known that the man who constantly trips over his own two feet was so graceful?”


End file.
